family filled weekends

Zach and I both live in different cities than our families. It's nice sometimes ;) but we still miss them a lot! So far this summer we have been blessed with 3 family weekends in a row. One in Enterprise, one in Gainesville and then one here in Conyers! Friday night Zach and I (plus Connor) went to Macon, GA for our wonderful and talented friends concert at the Capitol Theater. Mike Kinnebrew is seriously amazing!! You should google him :)



Saturday my parents drove up for Connor's baptism on Sunday. Zach's parents, brother, sister and brother-in-law came down Sunday morning.


After church we came back for Sunday lunch, a double birthday celebration for Zach and Katie and to have the inaugural corn hole game with the set I bought and painted for Zach for his birthday. If you have never played you are missing out. It is very fun!




In other news we are getting more used to having two boys hanging around our house. I get overwhelmed at times. Especially when they both NEED me at the same time. I feel sorry for Micah some times because Connor usually gets me first since he can do NOTHING for himself. I know this won't last long though because Connor is getting bigger each day. One day neither one will think they need me, but I'm not going to think about that yet!! In the meantime am taking it one day at a time and making sure I have plenty of Dr. Pepper on hand!

sunday song

This song popped into my head today as I was trying to calm Connor so he could take a nap. It is so beautiful and peaceful it is perfect as a lullaby!


Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature,
O Thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
Thou, my soul's glory, joy and crown.

Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands,
Robed in the blooming garb of spring;
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
Who makes the woeful heart to sing.

Fair is the sunshine,
Fairer still the moonlight,
And all the twinkling starry host;
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
Than all the angels heaven can boast.

All fairest beauty, heavenly and earthly,
Wondrously, Jesus, is found in Thee;
None can be nearer, fairer or dearer,
Than Thou, my Savior, art to me.

Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration,
Now and forever more be Thine.

hints for a happy family

Last week on the today show they had a guest who shared 6 tips for a happy family. I tried really hard not to be skeptical before I heard all their reasons, but it was kinda hard! As I was listening to them name and describe each one my mind went straight past what their reasons were and went straight to what God's Word says about them. I decided to look up scripture to back up each reason in a spiritual way instead of a worldly way. It ended up being really cool for me to do so I wanted to share it with all of you.

1) Know who you are

them: have a moral code that you not only believe but that your family agrees with and shares together.


bible:
1 Thess 5:16-18 Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him


2) Lean on each other

them: you need a core group of friends to give you understanding and support

bible:
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, but in all ways acknowledge Him and he will make your paths straight.

Ecclesiastes 4:12 Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.


3) Learn to bounce back

them: Life isn't easy. You need to learn to be resilient and count your blessings.

bible:
Romans 8:28 We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Philippians 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.


4) Breathe

them: We all need laid back time. Stop over scheduling your life.

Bible:
Exodus 20:8 Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.

Psalm 62:1 My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.


5: Be respectful and grateful

them: Respect others and be grateful for what you have.

Bible:
Colossians 3:12-14 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity


6) Priorities

them: Make sure your priorities are straight and don't value certain things more than you should.

Bible:
Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.



At the end of the segment they shared the statement "families with spirituality seem to connect better." I don't know the relationship any of these people have with Our Father but they hit the nail on the head with that one! Isn't it odd how close the world can get to God but still don't want to touch Him? I pray others see Christ's influence in these rules and put their trust in Him!

**I would love to know what verses came to your mind when you read these 'rules'.

smile

Connor has started smiling!! Yay! The first smile I saw was last Thursday but of course by the time the camera came out the smiling stopped. How do they know!?!? It's been hard to get a good smiling picture of him but don't worry we'll keep trying. Hopefully these will tide you over for now.

father's day

Happy Father's Day to...

My husband who sets an amazing example for my two boys.






My daddy who loves and cares for his grandchildren as much as he did for us.






and above all my Heavenly Father whose love and mercy will never be surpassed.

Father let me dedicate all this life to Thee
In whatever worldly state Thou would have me be
Not from sorrow, pain or care, freedom dare I claim
This alone shall be my prayer, glorify Thy name

Be glorified in me, be glorified
Be glorified in me, be glorifed

Can a child presume to choose where or how to live?
Can a father's love refuse all the best to give?
Let my glad heart, while it sings, Thee in all proclaim
And, whate'er the future brings, glorify Thy name


Be glorified in me, be glorified
Be glorified in me, be glorified

weekend away

Connor has experienced his first trip to Enterprise, AL! We left Thursday night to go to my parents' house for the weekend to introduce Connor to more of his aunts, uncles, cousins and great granny! It was jam packed but so much fun! The kids played in the pool Friday, I went shopping with my mom and sister that afternoon and we had a cookout at brother's Friday night. Saturday there was more pool time but we also had to clean house for one of my best friends' wedding shower Sunday. Saturday night my parents went to a wedding so all us 'kids' went to dinner at a seafood restaurant. Sunday it was off to church for Connor's dedication at the church I grew up in then rushed home for the shower that afternoon where I got to visit with some friends that I hadn't seen in a LONG time! The boys did great on the trip with the help of a paci for one and an Ice Age DVD for the other. We pulled back in to our driveway a little before midnight last night. Whew!

Micah helping Haley snack as she holds Connor

Keel cousins at the cookout

3 out of 4

Keelie on the slide

Micah enjoying the sun

Connor trying to figure out why I dragged him outside

John D. and Connor

The bride and her hostesses

i love the plumber

If you need some plumbing done check out Rockdale Plumbing and Drain. This Andrew Peterson look a like will come to your house, step over all your mess, smile at your kiddos even when they're being 'interesting' and fix your water so that you feel like a civilized person again.

Praise be to God, the water is flowing!

one month

A month ago we became a family of four.
Maybe one day I can actually get a picture of all four of us!!!

water woes

Excuse me while I vent some home owner frustrations UUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Ok I feel better. Zach and I will say without hesitation that we sometimes suck at life. Not all life just the 'how to be an adult and deal with things like, cars, insurance, bills, etc. life.' Well a doozy has just popped up in the May household. Apparently for the last year (and probably more) we have been paying WAAAAYYY too much for our water bill and would have kept right on paying if Zach hadn't thought to ask some friends how much their water bill is. Let's just say ours was about $80 more than theirs! You would think a water company would notice someone using 5 times the amount of water the average person does and come to investigate especially during a drought but OHHH NOOO!!!

Anyway, through this conversation we came to discover that we had a leak in the water pipe leading from the house to the meter. Oh joy of joys. After many conversations with our 'don't suck at life' handy man friends, 2 estimates,and a conversation with our insurance company who still has not decided if we are covered for this problem, we got the water main replaced. We were anxious to have the problem solved, especially since our house is on the market. Micah was beside himself with excitement yesterday as he watched the bulldozer dig a trench around our house. He kept saying, "look, it's eatin' the dirt!" A few hours later we assumed our problem was solved...you know what they say about assuming!



Last night when I pulled into our garage from going to the grocery store I heard a noise that sounded like water running (like the sound your toilet makes after you flush). Then we noticed the water spurting out of the faucets whenever we turned them on. So not it seems that because the water pressure is back up as it runs through the house it has now caused a leak under the slab. This will hopefully be solved by running pipes through the attic to the things that use water.

At this point Zach and I are listing the things God may be trying to teach us during this situation. Besides the fact that we have a house to begin with when so many others don't, we have focused on (1) what a blessing it is that he just started a new job with a paycheck that can help us cover this better, (2) that it is much better to find and fix this ourselves than have it found during the inspection for a 'maybe' buyer, and (3) that neither one of us have freaked out about the annoyance and expense. This technically isn't our house. We are just stewards and are praying God has planned for us to take care of this situation for the next owners before we can move on to a new place.

In the meantime, don't be surprised if I show up at your doorstep with two dirty boys and a car full of laundry :)




Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

James 1:2-3

5 years

Zach and my 5 year anniversary was this past Friday. Wow! 5 years...crazy! I wish I could say we had the most romantic day together, but sadly that was just not a possibility this year. Getting away is virtually impossible when you have a 4 week old!! However, Zach did 'work from home' so we at least got to see each other. On top of the whole having a newborn thing, his grandmother and her husband were coming in town to meet Connor, I had errands I HAD to do and Zach had to play in a wedding yesterday so he had the rehearsal Friday night. Whew!

We had a nice breakfast together, croissants with Nutella. YUMMY!!! It's as close to a pain au chocolat as I will get until we go back to France. We also exchanged presents first thing in the morning. I knew what I was getting because I'd been asking for it for a long time. I have a pearl ring of my grandmother's but it was dirty, too big and missing a diamond. Zach had it polished, sized and the two diamonds exchanged for slightly bigger ones. The ladies at the jewelry store tried to talk him into putting a carat on each side but it didn't work...dang it ;) Even though it wasn't a surprise I was excited to finally have it done! Zach on the other hand was very surprised with his gift. I, with the help of a few people from Enterprise, Birmingham and Nashville, gave Zach a copy of the sheet music for Canaan Bound that had been autographed by Andrew Peterson. I was kind of disappointed that Andrew only signed his name and didn't personalize it, especially considering the LOOONNNNGGGGGG note I mailed with it about it being our anniversary and that he met Zach twice in Conyers and so on but I am just going to assume his manager didn't tell him about the note :) It was still really cool however and will look awesome in the music room of our new house (if we ever get one) when it's framed all purty!

That night Micah once again went to hang out with the Moons. (I can't wait until baby Moon is born so we can start the long process of paying them back for babysitting!!) Zach, Connor and I headed to Madison, GA for the wedding rehearsal and then went to our own private dinner at The Chop House instead of going to the rehearsal dinner. There were definitely fancier restaurants in Madison but we weren't sure how thrilled the other diners would be if we were to walk in with an infant!

While it wasn't the most romantic anniversary ever it still was a milestone. 5 years and counting and I can't wait to see what the years to come hold!

time with two

I'm not sure where this post is going to go so bear/bare? with me. My brain seems to always be running a mile a minute now trying to be in two places at once for two cute little boys neither of whom really get that that's a hard thing to do! Two is different...good different. It's amazing to look at how independent Micah is and then look at Connor and know he can do nothing for himself. I have discovered that there is no feeling like sitting on the couch cuddling with your two boys and knowing they both love you and need you desperately, although in very different ways!

My favorite thing so far about having them both is watching Micah love him because he sees Zach and I love him. He'll tell me when he's crying, he loves on him constantly, he asks him what's the matter when he's upset and brings him toys to make him feel better. It's so cute when he repeats phrases that he has heard us say like "what's the matter buddy" and "there there its ok."

My least favorite thing is that I'm divided. I can't hold Connor near as much as I did Micah when he was a newborn, obviously, and if Connor is upset I can't sit and play with Micah like I used to be able to. I know this is a short phase. Soon Connor will be able to sit up and join us in during our playtime, but that's hard to remember at the moment. It's amazing how much mommy guilt you can put on yourself in such a short time :) I have, however, made a promise to myself that no matter how many children we have (hopefully just one more) I want to carve out individual time for them all so that at some point of their day they don't have to share and play by 'the rules' they can relax and be the only even if its just for a few minutes!!